Harry Belafonte was a Jamaican-American singer, actor, and campaigner who popularised calypso music among international audiences in the 1950s. Calypso (1956), his breakthrough album, was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.

Sadly, Belafonte died of congestive heart failure on April 25, 2023, at the age of 96, at home on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Who are Harry Belafonte’s children?

Belafonte gave birth to four children. He gave birth to Adrienne and Shari Belafonte with his first wife Marguerite Byrd. However, they divorced when Byrd became pregnant with Shari. Adrienne and her daughter Rachel Blue established the Anir Foundation/Experience, which is dedicated to humanitarian activities in southern Africa.

He also gave birth to David Belafonte and Gina Belafonte with his second wife, Julie Robinson.

David Belafonte, Harry’s only son, and Julie Robinson’s first child, was born in 1957. David, like Shari, dabbled in the entertainment profession, with minor roles on Timebomb and Across the Tracks. David has remained close to Harry throughout his life, even working behind the scenes on his 1997 TV special “An Evening with Harry Belafonte & Friends.” David was previously the vice president of Belafonte Enterprises, his father’s entertainment publishing company.

In 1961, Harry had his second child with Julie, a baby girl named Gina. Gina, like her two elder siblings, has been acting since the 1980s, and her big break came as Carmela Pagan in The Commish. Gina returned to the big screen in 2016 with a role in Courting Des Moines, as well as working on Spike Lee’s critically acclaimed movie BlacKkKlansman.